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Monday, June 18, 2012

SFF Challenge: Butcher 1976 words

As I have mentioned before, I doing a prompt challenge this summer. And as promised, I'm going to share with y'all what I wrote. The first prompt was Butcher and because I'm with a two year old all day the first thing I thought of was that nursery rhyme "Rub-a-dub-dub/Three men in a tub". So I went with it and this is what I got.

This is a fluffy, fairy tale type piece and not my strongest writing. But I found the story fun to write so I guess that's all that really matters sometimes.

~~~

Rub-a-dub-dub

Three men in a tub

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker

The candlestick maker

All put out to sea.

The Butcher leaned against the port side railing of the ship
and sighed as he watched the gray sea pass beneath him. He’d been on this ship,
The Tub, for nearly three months and they seemed no closer to their destination
than the day they left home.

Butcher
drummed his meaty fingers on the railing and then turned away from the ocean
view in disgust. “Shouldn’t we be there by now?” he asked two men standing
behind him.

One of the
men shrugged. “It’s on Wandering Island,” he said as he ran a hand over his
round belly. “No one knows where it is exactly.” The Baker’s face could only be
described as doughy and at the moment it looked tired with a tinge of sea sick
green.

“People say
it stays in this general area though,” said the second man. The Candlestick
Maker, or Candle for short, was tall and thin. His face dripped sweat from the
heat, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Butcher was
about to say something when a sailor up in the crow’s nest cried out, “Land
ho!” Everyone on deck looked up at the crow’s nest and then to where the sailor
was pointing off the starboard side. There on the horizon was a tiny black speck
against the clear blue sky.

The captain
gave an order and the helmsman steered the ship towards the speck. It took
several hours before Butcher, or anyone else, could tell that the speck was
indeed an island. The sun was setting by the time they got there. They found a
deep cove that allowed the ship to settle close to shore. It didn’t take long
for the crew to empty The Tub and make camp on the beach. The last rays of the
sun saw everyone gathered around a fire eating and drinking.

Butcher,
Baker and Candle sat a little away from the crew, eating in silence, each lost
in their own thoughts.

“So what
now?” the captain asked from across the fire.

The three
men jumped and then looked at each other for a long moment. Finally Butcher
shrugged and said, “We’ll start our search in the morning, I guess.”

“And how
long do you plan on searching?” the captain asked.

“As long as
it takes,” Baker replied with a glare.

“We can’t
stay here forever,” the captain snapped.

Butcher laid
a hand on Baker’s shoulder and said, “Give us three days. It shouldn’t take any
longer than that to find what we’re looking for.”

The captain
nodded and turned away from the three men.

“Is three
days really going to be enough?” Candle asked.

“You saw how
small this island is,” Butcher replied. “It won’t take us more than a day to
cover it.”

“And what if
the treasure is buried under some random tree in there?” Baker snapped,
pointing a finger at the dense jungle that took up the middle of the island.

Candle shook
his head. “The traveler said that the treasure is in a cave.”

Baker opened
his mouth to argue more but Butcher held up a hand for silence. “We’ll go to
the far side of the island tomorrow,” he said, “over where those cliffs are.
That’s the best place to start as any other.”

Baker and
Candle nodded and began to settle in for the night. No one got much sleep
though. The sailors stayed up late drinking and laughing, enjoying the freedom
of being on land.

When the sun
rose the next morning, Butcher, Baker and Candle gathered their things and
started their trek across the island. They made it to the far side before noon.

The day
before, as The Tub circled the island looking for a place to drop anchor,
Butcher heard one of the sailors comment on how the island looked like a wedge
of Swiss cheese. One side of the island sloped gently out of the ocean and up
to the other side where it dropped off a steep cliff face riddled with caves.

From the top
of the cliffs the men had a magnificent view of the ocean and cloudless sky.
They could also see how far of a drop it was down to the waves that broke
against the rocky shore.

Without a
word the men pulled climbing rope and gear from their packs and began their
decent down the cliff face. At first, the caves they passed weren’t really caves
at all, more like deep pockmarks in the rock face. It took until they were
close to the bottom before they found a cave that looked promising.

The opening
was narrow but they could see that the cave went deep into the earth. They
crawled into the cave and lit torches they had in their packs. A few hundred
yards from the opening a tunnel took a sharp turn to the right and down into
the darkness.

Butcher led
the way, with Baker and Candle following and exchanging worried glances. The
tunnel continued to twist and turn and always went downward. After an hour they
finally saw an orange glow ahead of them. As they drew closer waves of heat
assaulted them. They turned the last corner and came into a cavern half full of
lava. The heat was so intense the sweat that dripped off of them sizzled when
it hit the ground.

Before the
men was a long slender bridge that was made of a strange stone. The bridge led
to a wide island that gently bobbed in the lava. Sprawled out on that island
was a creature from nightmares.

The entire
thing was black. It had the head of a ram, with long twisted horns. Its body
was scaled and shinny and had six legs. The front pair was huge lion paws, the
middle pair thick horse legs and the back were massive eagle talons. Feathered
wings were folded against the creature’s body, making it impossible to tell
their span. The tail was that of a scorpion, the tip large enough to impale a
man.

Candle swore
under his breath.

“What the
hell is that?” Baker whispered, his voice trembling.

Butcher
shook his head, fear keeping him from replying.

Before any
of the men could move or even think about what to do, the Beast opened one red
eye. The men fell back a step, fear making their hands tremble and causing them
to drop their torches.

The Beast
rolled its eye and sighed. “What do you want?” it asked, its tone bored.

For a long
moment the men were too shocked to speak. It was Butcher who cleared his throat
and spoke first. “Excuse me?”

“I said,
what do you want?”

“Um, well,”
Butcher said, looking to his companions for help. The other two just shook
their heads. “We, um, came here looking for the treasure.”

The Beast
let out a long stream of gray smoke. “Of course, the treasure. Men like you are
always coming here looking for my gold.”

“It’s not
gold we’re after,” Candle said, his fear half choking him.

The Beast
raised its head and looked at the men with both eyes. “If you’re not here for
the gold, then what treasure are you seeking?”

“We heard a
story from a traveler that had been here before that amongst your gold was
magical tools of various trades,” Baker said. “Including a magical rolling pin
that could cause every pastry it made to taste like heaven.”

“And a
candle mold,” Candle choked out, “that made candles that last forever.”

Butcher
nodded. “As well as a meat clever that never failed to make the perfect cut of
meat.”

The Beast
regarded the three men for a long moment. “And how did you plan on obtaining
these items?”

Butcher
looked at his companions again and said, “Well no one said that the treasure
was being guarded, so we thought we could just take it. But under the current
circumstances…” Butcher shrugged.

“Is there
something we could trade for them?” Baker asked.

“There is
nothing in your possession I want,” the Beast said. It crossed its front paws
and laid its chin on top of them. “But, I could use some entertainment.” A grin
grew across its face, revealing a set of large sharp teeth. “I enjoy poetry. If
you can help me finish a poem to my satisfaction then I will give you the items
you seek.

“Rub-a-dub-dub

Three men in a tub

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker

The candlestick maker

All put out to sea.”

Butcher,
Baker and Candle huddled together for several long minutes, discussing their
options. None of them were good at poetry but they figured they’d keep it
simple and pray for the best.

Butcher
stepped forward first and said,

“Rub-a-dub-brave

Three men in a cave

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker

The candlestick maker

All come to see me.”

The Beast’s
grin widened as he said, “Continue.”

Baker was
next.

“Rub-a-dub-fools

Three men seeking tools

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker

The candlestick maker

All praying to go free.”

The Beast
laughed as Candle came forward.

“Rub-a-dub-fits

Three men receiving gifts

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker

The candlestick maker

All new friends to thee.”

The Beast
roared, flapped its wings and beat a paw against the ground. “Oh, that is
wonderful! In all my years, no one has made a poem so amusing to me. I have had
some of the best poets and scholars try to entertain me with their flowery
verses, but never has anyone made me laugh.” The Beast rose and turned toward
another bridge that had been hidden behind his bulk. “Follow me and I’ll give
you what you seek.”

Butcher,
Baker and Candle followed the Beast into another large cave filled to the
ceiling with gold and jewels. Off to one side was a pile of plain looking
objects, among them swords, shields, a sewing needle, armor, a plow, horse
harnesses, clothing and various other mundane items.

The Beast picked out the meat
cleaver, rolling pin and candle mold from the pile and laid the tools at the
men’s feet. “Thank you for entertaining me, gentlemen, I am sure these tools
will help you in your trades. But be warned, these tools will wear out over
time. To keep them in perfect shape recite the poem we just created together
over the tools every morning before you start working with them. If you do
that, they will last forever.”

The men picked up their treasure,
thanked the Beast profusely and made their way out of the cave and back to the
beach where the crew of The Tub was waiting. The sun was again setting and the
crew was shocked to see Butcher, Baker and Candle return so soon.

In the morning, everyone returned to
the ship and began the journey home. Butcher, Baker and Candle returned to
their shops and renewed their work with their new tools. Each remembered what
the Beast had told them and they recited the poem every morning. Their
businesses became profitable and the men were able to pass them, and their
treasure, on to their children. But over time, the story of how the remarkable
tools had come to be and how to take care of them was forgotten. The magical
tools became just a plain meat cleaver, rolling pin and candle mold. And all
that was left of the poem was that first stanza.